Israeli forces have also stepped up activities in the occupied West Bank, killing a 16-year-old during a military incursion into a Palestinian refugee camp near the northern city of Jenin.

Palestinian National Authority (PNA) prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, a leader of Hamas, called the Israeli offensive “a desperate effort to undermine the Palestinian government under the pretext of a search for a missing soldier,” the Israeli daily Haaretz reported July 7.

Palestinian groups holding Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in a raid on an Israeli post near the border with Gaza June 25, have reportedly presented new terms for his release. The conditions, which the press attributed to the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, call for the release of 100 female Palestinian prisoners and 30 who have served 20 years or more. Israel’s Internal Security Minister said July 7 that Tel Aviv would not rule out a prisoner exchange.

There are more than 8,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. According to a United Nations report, Israeli forces have arrested 155 more Palestinians between June 28 and July 4, “including nine PA [Palestinian Authority] ministers, 25 Palestinian Legislative Council members, two mayors, and the Mufti of Bethlehem.” More than 50 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began.

Tel Aviv claimed the expansion of the invasion in Gaza is aimed at creating a buffer zone to prevent armed Palestinian factions from firing rockets into areas of Israel bordering the Strip.

On July 4 and 5, dual-engine rockets fired from Gaza reached the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Israel’s premier Ehud Olmert said the attack will have “consequences” and “Hamas will be the first to feel this.” Tel Aviv has also stepped up its threats against the government of Syria, where the exile leadership of Hamas and other Palestinian groups have offices. On June 28, just after Israeli forces entered Gaza, Israeli jets flew close above Syrian president Bashar Assad’s summer residence, while he was home, “to send a threatening message to the [sic] Assad and the Syrian regime,” said a July 5 report by the Israel-based Center for Special Studies, a non-governmental organization linked to Israeli intelligence.

Washington has backed Tel Aviv throughout the assault.
 
 
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